In this article, you will find 172 motivational quotes to take action and help you stop procrastinating for good!
There is a famous quote says that the distance between our dreams and reality is called action. This tells us just how important it is to take action if we hope to make changes to our life.
However, for most of us, taking action is not an easy thing. The conditions are not always in our favour, and sometimes we have to demonstrate a lot of motivation and courage to get started on an activity or a project, even when they are things that we care deeply about.
To lend a hand, I have chosen 172 quotes on the topic of taking action. All of these quotes come from major thinkers or famous personalities: scientists, entrepreneurs, athletes, explorers, artists, authors, philosophers, speakers or political leaders.
Apart from motivating us to take swift action, these quotes first teach us that springing into action is, at first, about making a decision. The choice to procrastinate or not to act depends, in reality, on us, not on circumstances.
These quotes also mention the importance of determination when we launch any kind of enterprise, project or action. They are also genuine sources of inspiration to push us to persevere and never give up.
We will also discover how useful it is to know how to step outside our comfort zone, overcome our fears and increase our potential. A positive state of mind makes the move to action efficient if we hope to achieve a real and positive change in our life.
Through these quotes about taking action, we will see the importance of passion, dreams, clarity about our goals, our vision and the people around us when it comes to taking action. We end with some more philosophical quotes about what action represents in the human condition.
On that note – action!
Short and highly motivational quotes about taking action
- “If you can dream it, you can do it.” Walt Disney
- “They did not know it was impossible so they did it.” Mark Twain
- Always act as if it is impossible to fail.” Winston Churchill
- “It doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from. The ability to triumph begins with you – always.” Oprah Winfrey
- “It always seems impossible until it is done.” Nelson Mandela
- “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Master Yoda (fictional character in Star Wars)
- “The time for action is now. It’s never too late to do something.” Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
- “Think like a man of action. Act like a man of thought.” Henri Bergson
- “We can always do more than we think we can.” Joseph Kessel
- “An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” Engels
- “The more we act, the less we endure.” Youcef Nemmar
- “What you have done is nothing compared to what you can do.” Grant Cardone
- “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” Napoleon Hill
- “Starting is half the battle.” Wilfrid Laurier
- “They succeed, because they think they can.” Virgil
- “The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.” Anthony Robbins
- “As you start to walk on the way, the way appears.” Rumi
- “The first step is you have to say that you can.” Will Smith
- “And if it was possible?” David Laroche
Quotes to take action without waiting any longer
- “Dream big, start small, act now.” Robin Sharma
- “It is better to act too quickly than it is to wait too long.” Jack Welch
- “Do not wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles, and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.” Mark Victor Hansen
- “One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you’ve always wanted. Do it now.” Paulo Coelho
- “First do what is necessary. Then do what is possible. And before you know it you are doing the impossible.” Saint Francis of Assisi
- “Whatever you dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.” Goethe
- “Your future is created by what you do today, not tomorrow.” Robert T. Kiyosaki
- “Anything that can be done another day can be done today.” Montaigne
- “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is today.” Chinese proverb
- “If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity, but you are not sure you can do it, say yes. Then learn how to do it later.” Richard Branson
- “The way to get started is to quit talking.” Walt Disney
- “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain
- “To have commenced is half the deed. Half yet remains; Begin again on this and thou wilt finish all.” Ausonius
- “What can you do today that will make you proud of yourself tonight?” David Laroche
Quotes about the decision to act
- “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.” Stephen Covey
- “If you’re sitting around waiting on somebody to save you, to fix you, to even help you, you are wasting your time. Only you have the power to move your life forward.” Oprah Winfrey
- “I think it’s possible for ordinary people to choose to be extraordinary.” Elon Musk
- “Make a decision today to do something wonderful with your life.” Brian Tracy
- “That each man is the sum of his choices is nothing less than the truth.” Joseph O’Connor
- “Take time to deliberate; but when the time for action arrives, stop thinking and go in.” Andrew Jackson
- “The most difficult thing is the decision to act. The rest is merely tenacity.” Amelia Earhart
- “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” Peter Drucker
- “Decisiveness is the one word that makes a good manager. You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act.” Lee Iacocca
- “Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better.” Jim Rohn
- “What would your life be like in one year if you gave yourself permission to be a better person.” David Laroche
Quotes about procrastination or “not trying”
- “The only thing you will not succeed at is the thing you did not try.” Paul Émile Victor
- “There are two ways to lead your life: dream it or do it.” René Char
- “Words are but the shadows of actions.” Democritus
- “I knew that if I failed I wouldn’t regret that, but I knew the one thing I might regret is not trying.” Jeff Bezos
- “Ideas without action are worthless.” Harvey Mackay
- “Winners find a way, losers find excuses.” Herodotus
- “There is a time for contemplation and a time for action.” John Lennon
- “We start by saying “this is impossible” to excuse ourselves from trying, and it does indeed become impossible because we do not try.” Charles Fourier
- “I can’t accept not trying.” Michael Jordan
- “The smallest of actions is always better than the noblest of intentions.” Robin Sharma
- “We cannot, under the pretext that it is impossible to do everything in one day, do nothing at all.” Abbé Pierre
- “The first rule of success is to never put off performing a task until tomorrow.” Emmeline Raymond
- “The consequences of what we did not do are the most serious.” Marcel Mariën
- “Doing and wanting to do are two different things.” Benjamin Franklin
- “There was so much that you could do, instead of looking for things that you couldn’t do.” Theodore Sturgeon
- “One of the marks of successful people is they are action-oriented. One of the marks of average people is they are talk-oriented.” Brian Tracy
- “To know if the water in the bowl is hot or cold, you must dip your finger in it. There is no point in discussing the matter.” Zen Koan
Quotes to take action through willingness to act and determination
- “If you are resolutely determined to make a lawyer of yourself, the thing is more than half done already… Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed, is more important than any other one thing.” Abraham Lincoln
- “Will is the springboard for action.” Henri Lacordaire
- “There is a driving force stronger than steam, electricity and atomic energy: That force is willpower.” Albert Einstein
- “Persistence is the shortest path to success.” Charlie Chaplin
- “”It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.” Confucius
- “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.” Tommy Lasorda
Quotes about the benefits of overcoming our fears and stepping outside our comfort in taking action
- “To achieve something you’ve never achieved before, you must become someone you’ve never been before.” Brian Tracy
- “Your fear prevents you from taking action. And it will prevent your dream from becoming reality.” Katherine Pancol
- “There are two ways to face difficulties: you can either change them or change yourself by facing them.” P. Bolton
- “If we don’t face our fears, our fears will chase us forever.” Paulo Coelho
- “What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” Tim Ferriss
- “If you never push yourself beyond your comfort zone, you will never improve.” Anders Ericsson
- “Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” Thomas Stearns Eliot
- “Where does your comfort zone end? Only where your mind think it does.” Mike Horn
- “The only source of knowledge is experience. You need experience to gain wisdom.” Albert Einstein
- “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” Paulo Coelho
Quotes about rising above our situation, our limits and our beliefs if we want to take action.
- “Even from stones placed in one’s path, one can build something beautiful.” Goethe
- “There are no limitations to the mind except those that we acknowledge.” Napoleon Hill
- “There are no limits to what you can accomplish, except the limits you place on your own thinking.” Brian Tracy
- “If you persuade yourself that you can do a certain thing, provided this thing be possible, you will do it however difficult it may be.” Émile Coué
- “Believe in your dreams and they may come true. Believe in yourself and they surely will.” Cherry Blossom
- “Focus on where you want to go, not on what you fear.” Anthony Robbins
- “What old people say you cannot do, you try and find that you can.” Henry David Thoreau.
- “If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it – then I can achieve it.” Mohamed Ali
- “Change the way you look at things and the things you look at change.” Dr. Wayne Dyer
- “Let us strive for the impossible. The great achievements throughout history have been the conquest of what seemed the impossible.” Charlie Chaplin
- “The first step is to establish that something is possible; then probability will occur.” Elon Musk
- “There are many things that seem impossible only so long as one does not attempt them.” André Gide
- “The only limit to our realisation of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
Quotes to take action through a positive state of mind and developing your full potential.
- “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees opportunity in every difficulty.” Winston Churchill
- “People who fail focus on what they have to go through. People who succeed focus on what they will feel like in the end.” Anthony Robbins
- “Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.” Jack Canfield
- “When you can’t go back, you have to worry only about the best way of moving forward.” Paulo Coelho
- “If I cannot change a situation, I can change the meaning.” Jacques Salomé
- “You may not be responsible for getting knocked down. But you’re certainly responsible for getting back up.” Wally Amos
- “Now is no time to think of what you do not have. Think of what you can do with what there is.” Ernest Hemingway
- “Don’t worry about failures, worry about the chances you miss when you don’t even try.” Jack Canfield
- “There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why? I dream of things that never were, and ask why not?” George Bernard Shaw
- “See what you are lacking in what you have.” Zen Koan
- “I will burn all bridges behind me, and stake my entire future on my ability to get what I want.” Napoleon Hill
- “The gift of creativity is within each of us waiting to unfold.” Pat B. Allen
- “You have great, untapped reserves of potential within you. Your job is to release them.” Brian Tracy
Quotes about success, happiness and other positive repercussions when we take action
- “Action is the most important key to any success. Action is what gives results.” Anthony Robbins
- “Whatever you think you can do or believe you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.” Goethe
- “Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” William James
- “Happiness is found in doing, not merely possessing.” Napoleon Hill
- “Action is the foundational key to all success.” Pablo Picasso
- “Positive expectations are the mark of a superior personality.” Brian Tracy
- “A thousand words will not leave so deep an impression as one deed.” Henrik Ibsen
- Happiness is not at the top of the mountain, but in how to climb.” Confucius
Quotes with a view to changing, evolving
- “We do not evolve by listening to someone talking. It is through action and by living experiences.” Laurent Gounelle
- “More than one educated man does not know that the only way to change ideas is to change actions.” Alain
- “The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” Confucius
- “Our deeds determine us, as much as we determine our deeds.” George Eliot
- “The door to change can only open from the inside. Each one of us holds the key.” Jacques Salomé
- “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” Albert Einstein
- “Recall that thoughts lead to feelings, feelings lead to actions, and actions lead to results.” T. Harv Eker
- “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Ghandi
- “Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” Jim Rohn
Quotes to help you to act, then to persevere and never give up
- “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time.” Thomas A. Edison
- “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time. So remember: great achievements take time, there is no overnight success.” Leon Tolstoy
- “Never accept defeat, you may be a step away from success.” Jack E. Addington
- “There is only one way to fail; it is to give up before you succeed.” Georges Clemenceau
- “The man who can drive himself further once the effort gets painful is the man who will win.” Roger Bannister
- “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day-in and day-out.” Leo Robert Collier
- “Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time.” Thomas Edison.
- “Persistence is the mother of personal change.” Robin Sharma
- “Never consider the possibility of failure; as long as you persist, you will be successful.” Brian Tracy
- “I am not the richest, smartest or most talented person in the world, but I succeed because I keep going and going and going.” Sylvester Stallone
- “Do not get discouraged, it is often the last key of the keychain that opens the door.” Paulo Coelho
- “Greatness comes by doing a few small and smart things every day.” Robin Sharma
Quotes about the power of having goals and a vision on results and actions
- “Vision without action is but a dream. Action without vision leads nowhere. Vision accompanied by action can change the world.” Loren Eiseley
- “The establishment of a clear, central purpose or goal in life is the starting point of all success.” Brian Tracy
- “The simple act of writing down a goal and making a written plan for its accomplishment moves you to the top 3 percent.” Brian Tracy
- “People who succeed are those who know how to mobilise all their physical and mental resources on a goal.” Anthony Robbins
- “Your attitude, not your aptitude will determine your altitude.” Zig Ziglar
- “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe.” Abraham Lincoln
- “Set your mind on a definite goal and observe how quickly the world stands aside to let you pass.” Napoleon Hill
- “When you know what you want and you want it badly enough, you’ll find a way to get it.” Jim Rohn
- “Success is not derived from doing many things at mediocrity but a few things at pure mastery.” Robin Sharma
Quotes about the influence of the people around us as we move to action
- “There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.” Ray Goforth
- “I am thankful for all of those who said NO to me. It’s because of them I’m doing it myself.” Albert Einstein
- “Those who say it can’t be done are usually interrupted by others doing it.” James Baldwin
- “Life can be so much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call “life” was made up by people who were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” Steve Jobs
- “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” Mark Twain
- “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.” Anonymous
Quotes about the strength of our passions and dreams as we move to action
- “You have to find what sparks a light in you so that you in your own way can illuminate the world.” Oprah Winfrey
- “Our life is composed greatly from dreams, from the unconscious, and they must be brought into connection with action.” Anaïs Nin
- “Nothing in the world has ever been accomplished without passion.” Hegel
- “Passionate people lift up the world, and sceptics let it down.” Albert Guinon
- “It’s not the things we do in life that we regret on our death bed, it is the things we did not. Find your passion and follow it.” Randy Pausch
- “You become what you envision yourself being.” Lewis Howes
- “People should pursue what they are passionate about. That will make them happier than pretty much anything else.” Elon Musk
- “Success is doing what you want to do, when you want, with whom you want, as much as you want.” Anthony Robbins
Philosophical quotes about the importance of action in human life
- “The great end of life is not knowledge but action.” Thomas Huxley
- “Man is nothing but the series of his acts.” Hegel
- “Our intelligence was set in the mould of action.” Henri Bergson
- “It’s not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters.” Epictetus
- “A man’s true pleasure is in doing things. This is what he was made for.”
- “Man must act as much as possible, because he must exist as much as possible and existence is essentially action.” Leibniz
- “On the last day, you will not be asked about what you know, but about what you did.” Jean Gerson
- “As you grow older, you’ll find the only things you regret are the things you didn’t do.” Zachary Scott
- “Without knowledge action is useless and knowledge without action is futile.” Arab proverb
- “Life is a struggle, accept it, life is a tragedy, confront it. Life is an adventure, dare it. And life is luck, make it.” Mother Teresa
- “Knowledge is the beginning of practice; doing is the completion of knowing.” Wang Yang Ming
- “You cannot control what happens to do, but you can control your attitude toward what happens to you, and in that you will be mastering change rather than allowing it to master you.” Brian Tracy
- “A man is the sum of his action, what he did, what he can do. Nothing else.” Malraux
- “There always comes a time when one must choose between contemplation and action. This is called becoming a man.” Albert Camus
- “Thought without action is a vain mirage, action without thought is a vain effort.” Gustave Le Bon
- “Without action imagination would simply be a way for us to take refuge in the unreal.” Albert Jacquard
- “Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act.” Albert Einstein